


Rubies and Tulle

by RedBlackDragon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Biology, Crossdressing, Gen, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) in Dresses, Kidnapping, Kinda..., Klance if you squint harder, Non-Consensual Touching, Sheith if you squint, Team Voltron Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:07:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27881973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedBlackDragon/pseuds/RedBlackDragon
Summary: "Bait? Wouldn‘t that mean-” He asked but was interrupted before he could finish.Coran pulled out a folder of pictures. ”These are the kidnapped women. We think we have found some common thread between them.”All the paladins were looking at the pictures of the women. All of them now realized what Coran and Allura had in mind when they wanted to send them undercover.”Allura, please don‘t tell me you‘re going to do what I think you have in mind.” He was looking at Allura with puppy dog eyes.But instead of showing remorse, Allura looked absolute ecstatic.”Finally I can dress someone up.” She was clapping in her hand.”I‘m not some doll!”
Comments: 23
Kudos: 83





	1. Short, Shorter, Dress

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys, I'm really sorry for those who are waiting for the continuation of 'The Path forward-Series', cause I haven't been updating in a while, and I'm soo ashamed of myself. But just so that you know, this story I've written during the first and second part of TPF and wanted to finally post it. Also, today's my birthday, so I wanted to treat myself. Originally, I had planned to put it in the story of 'Adventures in space', (I really hate that name ´;( ) but I'm the opinion that it doesn't fit anymore, so I changed it somewhat up.  
> For those of you who read it, you may find hints where the fic originated from and where there had been relations.
> 
> READ:  
> For the parts, where it's non-con I will have these * to show where it starts and ** when it ends.  
> (Nothing in the first chapter)
> 
> No beta read.

Keith had just finished defeating the gladiator when the announcement came.

”All Paladins, come to the bridge. We have a new mission.” Allura‘s voice was echoing through the intercom. Keith was drying his sweaty face with a towel, took a final sip from his water and made his way towards the control room. On his way there, he was nearly run over by a small gremlin. Pidge had her head bowed and was examining a little cube in her hand when she rounded the corner. Keith was just drinking something, after having decided to take his drink pack with him. So now both of them where sitting on their asses on the ground, Keith‘s shirt was drenched with water. Luckily, it had only hit his shirt and not his pants. He really didn‘t want to meet the others with a wet spot on his front. Gosh, Lance would never stop to laugh about this.

”Oh, sorry Keith, didn‘t see where I was walking.”

”Don‘t worry, I wasn‘t looking myself.”

When Pidge saw what happened to Keith‘s shirt she looked guilty at Keith. Shortly both were holding their stomachs while laughing.

”Oh- my god— I‘m so sorry-” Pidge was trying to apologize while laughing her ass off.

”Man, you can be lucky it didn‘t hit your pants.”

”Hahaha, yeah. Tell me about it. I would never hear the end of it from Lance.”

Both of them got up and proceeded towards the bridge. They didn’t want to be on the receiving end of ’Space Mom and Dad’s disappointed glare’. When they arrived at the bridge, Lance was just walking towards his seat and everybody else was already there.

”Have you decided to finally join us?” Allura was tapping her foot in a not-princess-like manner.

”Sorry, we ran into each other.” Keith was trying to defuse the situation. After all, they hadn’t been thaaat late.

”Quite literally.” Pidge was snickering next to him and Keith had to try to hold his laughter back himself.

”Fine, at least everybody is now here. Coran?”

Said man was turning towards his station, opening a picture of a planet.

”This is planet Montura, they have requested our help in a local problem. Many women of high status have gone missing in the last few phoebs. They have asked if we could investigate the matter.”

”Missing people? I mean yeah that’s important and all, but shouldn‘t they have someone on their planet to investigate? Isn’t calling Voltron not a step too big?” Pidge was asking from the side.

”Yeah. Like a local police force!” Lance was shouting into the round.

”What’s a police?”

”Not the point right now.” Shiro the ever-present voice of reason interrupted the long discussion, ”But Pidge’s right. Why call Voltron?”

”Well number one, you see, the people who have gone missing weren’t only officials from their own planet but from others too. So, it is a interplanetary affair, meaning Voltron is more than fit for this task!” Coran exclaimed loudly, while twirling his mustache.

”Also, the Galra have been keeping quiet for a while now. But that is no reason for Voltron to take a break. Voltron isn’t only a sign of peace during war, but also a helping hand for those in need. And right now, the Montees have requested our help.” Allura was explaining to the group.

Lance burst out laughing. ”They-they’re called Mo-Montees!?“ Lance had fallen from his chair now and holding his stomach while on the ground. Behind him they could see Hunk hiding his laughter behind his hand.

Shiro let out a long-suffering sigh, ”Lance.” That made the Cuban boy stop. The ’Disappointed Dad voice’ wasn‘t something they liked to hear. ”Do not. And I repeat. Do. Not. Make fun of them while we‘re on their planet. We do not want a repeat of Sqifelsquee.”

How Shiro could hold a stone face while saying that, was a mystery to everyone. Even Allura had sported a grin when they received message from that planet. The other teens just broke out laughing when they first met. They had to be excused during the meeting.

”As that may be, Coran and I already prepared a plan to figure this whole disappearing act out. With the help of some locals we could figure out the the reason for the kidnappings must be some sort of alien trafficking system. We already narrowed down the list of possible culprits.

”So what? We make groups and go to their houses guns blazing? Like bam bam bam!” Lance was making finger guns while acting to shoot all his surroundings.

”What no, we can‘t separate! What if they have bodyguards and other special systems against invaders?!“ Hunk was almost panicking on his seat. Looking at everyone with pleading eyes.

”Guys! They said they already have a plan. So how about listening?” Keith was done with their joking. He was still sweaty from his workout, he wanted to take a shower, now. The faster the meeting was over the faster he could clean up.

”Thanks Keith. And yeah, we have a plan and no, we do not go in guns blazing. Actually, we’re going to do the opposite.”

”So, sneaking into their houses. Easy peasy.” Pidge was already warming up her heads to prepare to hack into all the security measures they had.

”Not exactly number five, we had more in mind some kind of undercover mission.”

”Oh oh oh, so we’re gonna be spies.” Lance was practically jumping up and down, ”Hi, the name is McClain, Lance McClain.” And there he goes again with the finger guns. Keith was rolling his eyes at his antics.

”We’re gonna be sending in someone undercover to try to find out who might be the one responsible for the kidnappings. I guess, only three of you will have to infiltrate the parties where the victims have gone missing.”

”Please not me. I’m really not good with this kinda stuff.” Hunk was nearly begging not to be one of the few to go.

”That’s alright Hunk. Then I think the best to go would be Shiro, Lance and Keith. Pidge, you good with staying and taking on the surveillance?”

”Heck yeah I am!”

”So, what exactly did you have in mind with us going in undercover?”

”Well, one of you could be some kind of bait. To see if we‘ve got the right person. All of you are fit enough to fight them off if worse comes so worse. The other two are back up and the eyes of the other paladins‘ backs.”

”Bait? Wouldn‘t that mean-” Keith asked but was interrupted before he could finish.

Coran pulled out a folder of pictures. ”These are the kidnapped women. We think we have found some common thread between them.”

All the paladins were looking at the pictures of the women. All of them now realized what Coran and Allura had in mind when they wanted to send them undercover.

Pidge, Hunk and Lance started laughing out loud, even Shiro had to refrain from laughing, hiding his grin behind his fist.

”Allura, please don‘t tell me you‘re going to do what I think you have in mind.” Keith was looking at Allura with puppy dog eyes.

”Oh, Keithy, I guess you have to learn how to walk in heals.” Lance had thrown his arm across Keith‘s shoulder. ”I wish you best of luck.”

”Alluraaa!?” Keith was in absolute disbelieve, why did _he_ have to dress up as a woman to be bait for some alien traffickers?

But instead of showing remorse, Allura looked absolute ecstatic.

”Finally I can dress someone up.” She was clapping in her hand.

”I‘m not some doll!” Keith exclaimed put off.

”Oh come on Keith. You‘re perfect for the role. All the victims had dark hair and pale complexion. And you have a great body shape for this job.”

”This isn‘t really flattering.” Keith was crossing his arms and nearly pouting. He felt betrayed by his teammates. All of them were snickering and not looking the least bit concerned, not even Shiro - traitor!

”We will arrive at the planet around afternoon tomorrow. So be prepared. Keith, I expect you at my room at 12 o‘clock sharp.” Allura was practically glowing, happy for tomorrow. ”Until then get a good night‘s rest.”

And with that, all the paladins disbanded and returned to their rooms. Keith just couldn‘t believe what had just happened. They couldn‘t seriously be thinking of dressing him up and parading him around! Urgh, nothing what he would say would dissuade them from this plan. Were all of them just looking forward to seeing him in a dress or what? He swore, if he saw anyone with a camera tomorrow, he would skin them alive.

Defeated he went back to his room and took a nice warm shower. He could do this! He cleaned himself, even going as far as shaving his legs and arms. Everything for the mission. If he did this, then he should also do it correctly. Determined he got out of the shower and got ready to head to bed.

Even though he was more than tired, his mind just wouldn‘t shut down. Plagued with worries for tomorrow, he tossed and turned in his bed until he had enough. He got up with his blanket around his shoulder and headed out. Everybody should be asleep by now. He went down the hallways until he ended at the kitchen. He decided to get something to drink and then head on to the observation room. Luckily, it was empty. Some nights, when he couldn‘t sleep he would come here and occasionally find Shiro or Lance here, looking at the stars. If he felt in the mood for it, he would sit himself next to them. They would look at the stars together until they fell asleep there or decided to finally get some real sleep in their rooms. It had taken some time for Keith to get the courage to approach them. In the beginning he would just turn around and go back to his room or the training room. Then sometimes they would ask him to stay. Later on, he slowly approached them himself and asked if he could stay with them. There were only few times when they wanted to be alone, but most of the time, telling him that it was okay to sit next to them. So it became a habit to them. Being silent company to each other. Today he had the room for himself. Better this way. Keith wanted to have his thoughts to himself right now. The paladins had decided to make the observation room cozier and put lots of blanket and pillows there, making it a perfect spot for cuddle sessions and sleepless nights.

He was laying down on the blankets, his own still around his shoulder, and looked out at the stars. It had been his greatest dream to be so close to the stars, to get to see as much from space as humanly possible, and now look at him, being lightyears away from earth, surrounded by aliens and fighting a galaxy wide war with a cat shaped robot. At the thought of Voltron, he reached out to Red. She had become a new safe haven when he was feeling insecure and alone. She was answering with a soft purr, warmth spreading through him. With Red by his side and surrounded by the stars, he soon found the calm he needed to finally fall into a deep sleep.

When he woke up, he didn‘t know how much time had passed, if it was already ’morning’- or the space castle equivalent of mornings. He was still surrounded by the darkness of space and the low lights of the observation room. He groggily got up. He had slept surprisingly well considering his tossing and turning before is his room. After some stretching, he got up and walked to his room. The lights were already on, so the ’day-circle’ must have already started. He really hoped he hadn’t missed breakfast. But even if he did, he was fairly sure, Hunk would have left some leftover for him.

When he arrived at his room, he cleaned himself up and changed into his normal clothes. He then proceeded to go to the kitchen. As luck would have it, Hunk was in the process of cooking some pancakes. Well they were a light pastel blue, but he was quite sure they’re supposed to be pancakes.

”Morning Hunk”

”Oh, hey, Keith. You came at the perfect time. I’m as good as finished.”

”Great, I’m starving.”

”Hehe, yeah, you should eat some. You have a big day before you.” Hunk was snickering and Keith just groaned.

”Uhh, you didn’t have to remind me.” Keith took out the plates and placed them on the table. He got himself the space equivalent of pink orange juice and sipped the sweet-sour beverage. While they were talking the rest of the paladins, Coran and Allura slowly filtered into the kitchen. Pidge just came in walking like a zombie. When she slumped onto the table, Keith just came out from the kitchen and put the space coffee in front of her.

”Keith, you’re an angel.”

”Good morning to you too. Did you get any sleep last night?”

While slowly sipping on the coffee, Pidge came back to life. It was really like watching a wilted plant get some water and getting upright again.

”I did! Well, maybe a little late, and maybe on my computer, but I did get some sleep.”

”Sure thing, Pidgeon.”

It wasn’t long before all of them were present and eating.

Luckily, no one was bringing up the later mission yet. Not even Lance was making fun of him-

”Hey Mullet, you already decided what color to paint your nails?”

-or not.

Keith let out a sigh. Was it worth it to answer or should he just ignore him?

”No Lance. I haven‘t decided anything for the _mission_ yet.” Keith was challenging Lance to say anything else with his eyes. But before Lance could say anything more, Coran interrupted him. _Thank god, for this blessed man,_ Keith just thought while he went back to eating.

”Ah, Number one and three, you‘re gonna come to me later. We also must fix you up. We don‘t want you sticking out like some Scwafle in the Sybescan Monolithen. I have already prepared your outfits myself.” Coran looked extremely proud of himself. Shiro and Lance just had an expression of shock on their faces. All of them remembered the outfits whenever he wanted to dress the Paladins up. To say that they didn‘t fit the human‘s recollection of stylish was an understatement.

”Eh Coran, I bet you have chosen really great outfits for us, but I think Lance and I should take a look at them first.”

”Ah, quickeldy quack, you wouldn‘t know what was supposed to in on the planet, if it bit you.”

”Yeah Lance, listen to Coran. You‘re sense of style wouldn‘t please the ladies there.” Keith had stopped eating and was now resting his head on his folded hands while his elbows rested on the table, looking smug at both of them. Let him have at least a little revenge before he had to get himself in some dress.

”Shut your quiznack, mullet” Keith just rolled his eyes on the wrong use of the word, ...again.

”So, what exactly do we have to do, while those idiots are undercover?”, Pidge had now woken up enough to take part in the conservation.

”Ah right, if you have time after breakfast, the Princess and I wanted to go through the plan with you two.”

”All right. Maybe I will have some time later then to see Keith getting dolled up.” Pidge was crackling next to Keith. The later just groaned.

”I already want this day to be over.” He let his head fall on the table. Pidge and Hunk just rubbed his back in mock sympathy.

”It‘s not gonna be so bad, buddy. Right?” Hunk was looking into the round, trying to find support in lifting Keith‘s mood but all he received were smirking faces.

”All right. So now, Hunk and Pidge come with Coran and me, and later, Lance and Shiro are meeting with Coran for their outfits and I‘m expecting Keith for his. Until then, the rest has some free time.” Allura was concluding the round and everybody went somewhere where they wanted or were supposed to be.

* * *

Noon came sooner than Keith would have liked, before he even realized he found himself in front of Allura‘s door debating if he should just hide for the rest of the day and hope that someone else would take his place. _’I mean, Pidge is a girl, Allura is a girl, Lance got a fitting body and Shiro has similar features..., urgh why me?’_

Before he could decide to retreat the door opened and Allura was pulling him into her room

”Oh, Keith, there you are finally. Good thing you didn‘t hide somewhere. In this case the whole team would have to search for you.” _And there goes his plan_.

Allura pulled him to an adjoining room and pushed him into the shower. And _wow_ , was this even a shower? This bathroom was amazing, this was more than four times his room. He guessed that were the perks of being a princess.

”So get yourself cleaned up, I already placed the needed shampoos on the shelf, please use all of them in the right order.” She was showing Keith how to use and when to use each bottle and then left him here. With so much stuff, the shower alone would take an hour to finish. _Just what had he gotten himself into?_ After he was done, luckily it took ’only‘ half an hour, he left the bathroom with only a bathrobe. Somehow his clothes had gone missing. He hoped nobody had sneaked in while he had been showering. When he entered the other room, it looked like a bomb had exploded. Clothes and dresses were lying everywhere.

”Allura? What the heck happened here?”

”Oh Keith, you‘re done. Excellent. I‘ve been looking for the perfect outfit for you and I think I found something. But that comes later. First we gonna do your hair and make-up.”

Keith just sighed, letting Allura do her thing, ”Fine.”

She led him to a table with a mirror, filled with all types of make-up, brushes and other stuff.

”All right! Let us begin!”

”Something tells me, you have been waiting for something like this to happen.”

”Well yeah, kinda, after all its been ten thousand years and Pidge and I are the only girls on board. And Pidge is not really someone to do a make-up session with.”

Allura was looking kind of sad while saying this, and he understood what it was like to have nobody to do fun stuff with.

”Well, I guess then you have to use this opportunity to the fullest.” He was smiling at her and soon she was smiling back at him.

”Thank you, Keith.”

”No problem, Allura. I guess we just have to add one more activity to our bonding sessions. This way the others will have to participate as well and you‘ll have a whole group to do this with.”

”Oh, yess! We have to do this!”

Allura started doing Keith‘s hair. After showering with more than five products for his hair she added some more to it now. After it was dry, it became really shining and soft.

”Keith you have to do this more often. Your hair is just so soft!”

”Ehh, thanks, I guess?” She then continued to add some extensions to his hair making it longer, letting it end just a little under his shoulder blades close to his waist and then curled the strands, giving it a natural wavy look. She then pulled up some strands and fastened them on top of his head in a high ponytail.

The next step was the make-up. Allura went all out on her task to make Keith as pretty as possible.

”Your lashes are really long, I don‘t even think we need enhancer. You‘re lucky. Sometimes that can get really annoying.”

At some point Pidge must have come in, to Keith and Allura bickering which color of lipstick would fit the best. In the end they used one in the middle - a little darker shade of red.

”Wow, is that you Keith?” Pidge was staring at them with saucers as eyes. Keith was just grumbling saying ”I look ridiculous.”

”That‘s not true doofus, you look amazing!” Allura said from the side while pulling lightly on his hair.

”Pidge don‘t you dare laugh.” Keith glared at her through the mirror.

Before Pidge could even think about laughing, she first had to get her mouth closed again.

”Sorry Keith, but I think Allura is absolutely right. You do look amazing. How can make-up and long hair fit you so well?! I almost didn’t recognize you!”

”Do I look that different?” Both Allura and Pidge were nodding their head.

”Hmmm, I think I‘ve got an idea. Wanna take part in a little bet?” Keith said mischievously. 

The girls were immediately intrigued. ”A bet, sure as fuck!” Pidge was in without even hearing what he had to say.

”Ok, listen, Allura you said, it could be that we had to do the undercover mission more than once, right? And the first one is in a club?” Allura was nodding along.

”So, I was thinking we could....”

Both Pidge and Allura were absolutely thrilled with the idea Keith had.

After his make-up was finished, Allura presented to him the dress and told him to go change in the bathroom.

When he had the dress on, all his worries about the mission came back to him.

”Ehh, Allura? Are you sure I have to wear this dress?”

”Well, yeah. Come on out! We wanna see how it looks.”

”But I feel ridiculous! Is this even something allowed on the planet?”

”Don‘t be such a pussy and come out. I‘ve done some research and this dress is more than alright with the planet‘s customs.”

”But I don‘t wanna let anyone see me like this. Especially not the others.”

”Keith either you come out of there now, or I have to force this door open. One...two...”

”Okay okay, fine! I-I‘m coming out. Promise you won‘t laugh.”

”We promise.” Allura hit her elbow into Pidge‘s side to support her.

”Ye-yeah, promise! We won‘t laugh.”

When the door opened, the girls were both speechless.

”Come on, just tell me. I look dumb.” Keith was crossing his arms in front of him and puffing his cheeks out, not making eye contact with either of them. The light make-up in his face couldn‘t help hiding the deep red blush in his face

”Keith, why?”

”Why what, Allura?

”You‘re fucking sexy!” Pidge exploded next to her. ”Oh my god, I so want the guys to see you like this!”

”No, no you don‘t. And I don‘t either. Allura, isn‘t this dress a little over the top?” Keith was pulling the skirt down and trying to hide his chest at the same time, ”And much too short?” It was a black mini dress with open sides. The only thing it covered was his chest, stomach and hips. The skirt was also quite tight, and Keith had the feeling he had to hold it down for it not to ride further up his ass.

Allura, finally having found her words back was shaking her heads.

”Nope, you look stunning in this dress. How is it, that it fits you so much better than me?! Urgh doesn‘t matter now. Let‘s do the final touch ups.” Allura was pulling him from the bathroom back into the middle of her room.

Keith kept his hands fisted on the seams while being shoved.

“Is it as least covering my ass? I have the feeling it‘s not.”

“No no, everything’s fine on your behind.” Keith threw a glare over his shoulder where a little gremlin was grinning at him.

Allura started lightly pulling at some crinkles and strings, while Keith had to constantly check that everything was still in place and then finished with fixing his hair again.s

”You’re as good as done. Now just the shoes are missing. And here are some accessories. The earring is some kind of communicator with tracking device, so don’t lose it. You will be able to hear our conversations and we yours, but others around you not.” She handed him some black high heels, some earrings and a black choker with a ruby in the middle. The red stone in tear form hung down from the silky string to the hollow of his throat.

”Thanks.” Keith let Allura put the things on his body.

”So, I guess we’re done then.” Allura clapped her hands together looking at the final result.

”Let‘s get the party started.” Pidge was whooping next to them throwing her fist in the air.

Allura and Keith were just giggling at her antics.

”You know the plan?” Keith asked Allura.

”Yep, I‘m gonna tell the others of our little ’plan-change’. You good to go there?”

”As ready as I‘ll ever be.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there are any more tags to be added, please tell me :)
> 
> I don't know how to format, sorry. And again, my first language isn't english so I apologize for all mistakes.
> 
> Also, I had a picture drawn but my app deleted it, so weeeell, now there's none.


	2. Prey and Predator

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, here comes some non-con groping (again, starts with * and ends with **). FyI, the 'worse' stuff comes in a later chapter.

“Urgh, where is that dumb mullet? He should have been already here! Plan change, my ass! I bet he just got cold feet and now the others have to drag him out of his room.” Lance grumbled, sliding further down his seat before jumping up again to nibble on the straw of his drink.

“Lance, calm down. We still have the whole night. Keith will come soon. Give him some slack, after all it isn’t you who has to play bait dressed as a girl.”

Lance let out a sigh, putting the glass back on the table, “You’re right, Shiro. Even though I bet I could pull it off much better than him.” He crossed his arms and leaned back against the faux-leather seat, “But he still could hurry up a little. Or at least tell us that he is coming in an hour. This way I could try to talk to the ladies over there for a bit.” Lance was wiggling his eyebrows at a group of alien girls further back, when he saw one of them turn around, he made finger guns at her.

“Lance...” Shiro watched the scene with barely hidden tiredness.

“Yeah yeah, sorry, Dad. Mission and all. But it isn‘t my fault that we have nothing else to do right now.”

“I know, but we still have to watch our target. It would be fatal if he were to just leave the club.”

“That’s what I’m talking about! If mullet‘s not gonna appear any time soon, the guy won’t be here anymore. “

Shiro and Lance sat in a little corner pretending to sip on their drinks. They had originally planned to accompany Keith here and parade around a little, occasionally leaving him alone to see who would look at him more thoroughly. Now, they were sitting here alone, looking at their target. Lord Dreyson. It was an humanoid shaped alien with four arms and beige-gold skin. The skin would glitter in the sun like they had sprayed themselves with gold-particles. And no, not like in Twilight, Lance. Their skin would just shine a little. Not full-blown sparkling. The race had fully black eyes, two rows of teeth and antennas sprouting from their head. All in all, they didn’t look too bad. Earlier the day, they had minimized the list of potential kidnappers. Now there were only three left. They discovered that all three of them would be attending a high-class party next week, but decided to use this opportunity today nonetheless.

Allura had told them before they were supposed to depart of a little change of plans. Shiro and Lance should go on ahead and look out for their target there. Keith would come a little later because he wasn’t fully ready yet.

What they didn’t know was that Keith was already finished and left shortly after them. Hunk had brought him to the planet, so that they wouldn’t have to return separated.

While they waited, the situation changed. They saw a young girl approach their target and sat themself next to him. They continued observing the scene for some time, watching as the guy got more and more handsy.

”Damn, where is Keith?! If he doesn’t arrive soon, somebody else will snatch the attention of our target!” Lance complained while hitting back some more of his unfortunately alcohol low beverage.

”Yeah guys, it would be great if Keith could finally get down here.”

”Shit! Miss ’absolutely stunning and sexy’ over there is flirting with him! Shiro what should we do?! Just wait for him?“

”Guys? What do you think?” Shiro was talking through a hidden communicator to the others.

”Just wait a little and see what happens. If something's coming up, tell us.” Allura replied from her place in the castle.

”Allura, how can you be so calm. That sexy hoe there is ruining our mission!”

”Lance! Language. But he‘s right. With how that girl looks, she could be next one on our list-...” Shiro abruptly stopped his sentence and looked back at the pair at the bar.

”Shiro? Shiro?! Hey buddy, you should close your mouth before flies will fly in.” Lance was waiving his hand in front of Shiro‘s face who still stubbornly looked at their target.

”Huh, oh.” Shiro was closing his mouth again. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. He leaned back in his seat and looked to the ceiling, as if praying to whatever god could hear him right now.

”Allura, is this what I think it is?” He basically groaned into the comms.

Pidge could now be heard crackling in the background. Even Hunk started laughing and soon Allura‘s giggles joint in too.

”Yeah, Shiro. I think you finally understood the situation.”

”Eh guys, hold on. What situation? What am I missing right now?!” Lance was looking worriedly at his leader. Shiro just let his head fall back into his hand and placed the other on Lance‘s head turning him so that he faced the ’girl’ and the guy again.

”Take a closer look.” he ordered.

”What are you talking about? I only see a girl flirting with our target. Could they finally tell us when Keith will arrive?”

”Lance, the person next to our target _is_ Keith...”

Lance just kept a blank look on his face. Over a minute was said nothing. He turned his head back to the pair and then again back to Shiro

”YOU’RE KIDDING ME, RIGHT?! No way in hell, in that beautiful, sexy, curvy model over there our emo loner Keith.” Lance screeched quiet enough that not the whole club was looking at them, but some heads still turned intheir direction. Fortunately for them, their target was not one of them, too occupied with his companion.

Shiro just looked at Lance like he was absolutely done. Lance looked back to the two at the bar and watched them. The ’girl’ leaned closer to the guy and whispered something in his ear. At the same time ’she’ looked over to them winked directly at Lance and flipped him the bird, before going back to conversing with the guy and occasionally sipping from their drink.

”Holy shit! _It is Keith_!” Lance barely could keep his mouth closed.

* * *

Keith really had to try to tune out what was being said on the comm line. Otherwise his Poker face would crack and he would miss what he should say to the guy.

Earlier

Allura and Pidge were looking really dumb founded when Keith had put on the high heels and just strolled towards the hangar without a problem.

”How are you walking so naturally in those monstrosities?” Pidge was running after him after they had composed themselves again.

”I had some practice.”

”When?!”

Keith just shrugged, ”Before you knew me.” He held a hand towards Pidge‘s face, ”And before you ask any more, let‘s just say there is a lot you don‘t know about me. And no, I won‘t tell. At least not yet.”

He kept on walking until he arrived in the hangar. Hunk was already waiting there for him. Just like the others before, flies were invited to make a new living in his mouth.

”KEITH?!?! Is that you?!” Hunk was flat-out staring at him now. Moving his gaze from his top to bottom and up again.

”Yeah Hunk it‘s me.” Self-consciously Keith pulled the dress further down, it really was much too short for his liking. At least Hunk wasn‘t laughing, yet.

”Ready to go?” He asked the bigger Paladin.

”Ye-ye-yeah, sure. I have to say Allura, you really did a good job there.”

”Thanks, but Keith already got the looks to begin with.”

Keith turned and walked towards the yellow lion; no way he would show them how red he was now.

When they finally landed Hunk accompanied him to the entrance of the club and wished him good luck before returning to the castle. Keith took a deep breath and walked towards the door. The bouncers looked at him and let him in without a problem.

The club reminded him of the club he used to work at. It had a nice cozy feeling but still held the air of a high-end club.

 _Alright, now he had to start acting._ He started walking around the room a little while swaying his hips. He had a light smile on his lips while walking around and looking for his target. He saw that many other aliens were staring at him as he passed them and kept on staring for a while. Some occasionally glancing over to him. As he was watching the other guests, he saw Lance and Shiro sitting in on of the booths sipping on their drinks. He really hoped Pidge would make copy of the surveillance cameras. He wouldn‘t be able to see their reactions directly, but he at least wanted to have a video of that. He was slowly walking towards his target sitting by the bar.

”Hey there, is this seat already taken?” He tried to ask in the sweetest voice.

The guy turned around to look at Keith. His eyes slightly widened, and he looked Keith up and down, with a tiny smirk he made more space next to him and told him to take a seat.

Keith smiled back at him, thanked him with a shy thank you and sat down. Immediately the man, called the barkeeper and ordered two drinks. Luckily that guy wasn‘t too ugly so Keith would have an easier time talking to him.

”You waiting for someone?”

”Actually yeah, but they called me a while ago and said that they had something better to do.” Keith put a pout on his face and tried to look as sad as someone in his position would.

”No way, who in his right mind would stand up somebody as beautiful as you?”

Keith let out a small giggle, ”Thank you, sir. You are so much nicer than him.”

”I bet you had wanted a great night, right? So how about I take his place. After all, we can‘t let those tears stain this gorgeous face.”

”Flattery won‘t get you very far.” He gave the guy a little smile, “But thank you very much. It would be really nice to have someone stay with me right now.”

*

They kept on talking about various stuff. Keith realized that the guy was coming closer and closer to him and hinting about doing some more. Keith would sometimes play innocent and sometimes say filthy stuff and acting like a little slut, hinting back at him. In the background he heard the team talking and arguing. It took an eternity for Shiro to realize that Keith in fact was already doing his job. He only got a slight glace at their faces and his was priceless, he couldn’t wait to see Lance’s reaction.

And when Lance finally got the situation into his thick skull, the guy in front of him was leaning even more towards Keith. He saw his opportunity and leaned forwards whispering into the guys ear that he would be attending the ball next week if he would come too. While whispering Keith made eye contact with Lance and winked at him, showing him that _yes, he had heard the whole conversation and yes he had heard what Lance had said about him,_ followed by flipping him the bird for the emo comment.

The other guy meanwhile took this as his chance to put his hands on Keith’s waist and move lower. Keith leaned back again to look him in the eyes again and took up his drink.

”To your question earlier, yes I am participating at the ball next week. By being invited as well, I must assume that you‘re not just some beautiful girl, but also an important one.”

Keith giggles as response. ”Yes, that‘s true, but I‘m actually not supposed to tell anyone. It was pure luck and persuasion that they let me even out tonight.” Keith gave him a wink. From then on, the guy seemed even more interested in Keith. Keith tried to get as much information about the kidnappings as possible from this guy whenever he would let something slip. He was already fairly sure that he knew more about this case than he let on.

During the conversation, the guy had practically pulled Keith on his lap and started groping his ass. Normal people would keep their hands to themselves when they just received the information that they were in the presence of someone important, but this guy apparently not. At least he wasn‘t squeezing his ass or chest yet, well not more than once or twice. Mainly stroking his sides and occasionally moving his hand on the small of Keith‘s back. Or he would brush Keith‘s hair from his shoulders and then caress his arms up and down. Lord Dreyson used every ounce of free skin that he could find to move his hands there. And with the dress Keith wore, he had plenty of space.

Having had enough of tonight, Keith secretly gave Allura the signal to get him out of here before that guy got any nastier ideas of what could happen tonight.

**

”Guys, Keith just gave me the signal, that he is done for today.” Allura was telling Shiro and Lance through the intercom.

”About time, this guy’s been groping Keith for the past twenty minutes.” Shiro was nearly letting steam out of his ears at this point. Hunk and Coran had to constantly talk the two of them down, before they would jump up and rip that guy‘s hands off.

”Man, how come Keith is always jumping into action? He just endured hours of groping from this guy without hitting him even once. I really don’t get him. So, what should we do to get him out of this situation?”

”One of you is going over there and telling him, that they had been searching everywhere for him, we have a little emergency, that he needed to attend. Simple as that.”

”Can we get some more details?”

”No, just go on and fabricate something.”

”Fiineee, alright Shiro, I will go and save Princess Keith.”

With that Lance stood up and walked once around the club, messing a little with his hair, _wouldn‘t know if that guy had seen them before,_ laid his jacket on an empty table and went on to the bar.

’It‘s Showtime‘

Through some miracle, Lance was able to get Keith out from the hold of the guy. He had seemed absolutely not happy about this new situation and was holding on to Keith. Keith had to promise again to be present next week and see him there.

Back out of the club, Shiro met them there together with Lance‘s jacket and they continued to walk towards the Altean pod.

On their way back, they weren‘t really talking much, only when they finally arrived back in the hangar, did Shiro and Lance get their first real good look at Keith. While Keith was walking towards the rest of the team, the blue and black paladin just stood there frozen in front of the pod. Their eyes following Keith’s walking figure. He still had a light sway to his hip from walking in heels the whole evening. Keith did only realize their staring when Hunk and Pidge looked past him and started laughing their asses off. Both boys where standing there the same, both in a slight slouched position with open mouths. When the laughter arrived at them, they returned from their stupor and looked away as fast as possible a dark blush blossoming on their cheeks. That they didn’t get whiplash was a miracle. All the other occupants including Keith were now laughing at their expenses.

”What wrong guys, cat got your tongue?” Pidge was walking towards them, a knowing smirk on her face.

”N-no, no! Nothing wrong here at ass- eh all!!” Lance was stumbling over his own words. Shiro just got even redder.

”How about you finally tell Keith how you think he looks.”

”No, Allura please don‘t.” Keith was pleading, he didn‘t want to know what the guys thought about him in a dress. The reactions of the others were already enough.

”Well Lance response we‘ve already got in the club, right?” Hunk was reminding everyone.

”Right, right, what did you say...? Ahh, yes ’the beautiful, sexy, curvy model over there’.” Keith was now also blushing hard. Pidge really didn’t have to remind him of the comments from before.

”Alright, now that we had our first contact with one of the suspects, let‘s have a meeting on the bridge immediately. Keith then you can tell us everything that you could find out from that guy.” Allura interrupted any further joking and embarrassment on Keith‘s part.

”Alright, then let‘s go!”

”Nope, absolutely not.” Keith stayed rooted to the ground, his arms crossed over his chest, stopping the group before they could go far.

”What are you talking about? We did this whole mission to get more information.”

”Yeah Keith, you can‘t back out only because he did some dirty talk with you.”

Keith became really red at Lance‘s comment. He didn‘t really be reminded of all the suggestive things that guy had sprouted.

”No that‘s not it. Before we are having any meeting, I want to get out of this dress immediately. If you think I‘m gonna be in a dress a minute longer than necessary, then you‘re gravely mistaken.”

”Oohh.” Everybody had now an expression of understanding.

”Alright, then follow me Keith. Your clothes are still in my room. You guys, go on ahead to the bridge, we will meet you there in some minutes.”

Together Keith and Allura, left the group. Keith would never tell them this, but to him, it wasn‘t all that bad to be in the dress and high heels. After all he pretty much grew up being dolled up. So no problem there. But he wouldn‘t risk having Lance run his mouth while he still wore a much too short dress. So, changing first it was.

When they had finally concluded the meeting, Keith was nearly asleep on his feet and judging by the looks of it the others were pretty much feeling the same. They hadn’t had that much action today, but it was still mentally exhausting. After what Keith had told them, they saw it pretty much the same. The guy definitely let stuff slip he normally wouldn’t know, additionally he showed too much interest in Keith, in Lance’s opinion. But everybody ignored that comment. Silently agreeing that Keith was worth starring after with how he had looked today. So, nothing unusual there. Keith was blushing like 80 percent of the time having to explain and think back to what he had gathered. He really hoped those hand wouldn’t return in his nightmares.

* * *

The following week was spent with doing more research and information gathering on the planet. The Paladin were able to escape the disguises Coran had wanted them to wear and instead just oriented themselves at the natives. The most of them wore simple leggings and poncho like tops, flowing over the whole upper body and arms. So the team looked through the stuff the Alteans still had on board and what they still missed was bought on the planet.

It was actually a really beautiful planet. There were lots of trees and the ground was covered by light green sand. The trunks of the trees were all black and the leaves a mix of pink and orange. Most of the trees looked like palm trees letting occasionally the orange light of their sun shine through the leaves creating a breath-taking view on the ground. They had been walking for one hour through the woods simply enjoying the nature while they should be looking for any outposts and secret hidings.

Somehow, the day after Keith went to the bar, Allura had managed to persuade Keith to go shopping with her and Pidge. Naturally dressed as girl again. Lance had whined and argued why he couldn’t come with them.

”Why can‘t I accompany you?”

”Sorry Lance, girl‘s day.”

”But Keith‘s a guy too?” He whined.

”But he will act as a girl and has a role to play. It will also be beneficial for the mission.”

”I can also dress as a girl!”

”Nope, sorry, Lance.”

”Then, don‘t you girls need a bodyguard?”

”For that we will have Keith.”

While Lance and the girls were arguing, Keith was standing to the side, thinking about everything that went wrong with his life.

Now Keith was standing in the middle of the plaza outside one of the shops. The girls were giggling and squealing about stuff they saw inside. He was dressed in a darker peach colored knee length dress and still had the longer hair from yesterday falling freely in light waved down his back. Pidge had a short light green jumpsuit and Allura a similar dress to Keith‘s in rosé.

While he was boring himself, he let his gaze sweep across the market and the different stalls. Only then did he finally see something that seemed interesting to him. He looked back at the girls, making sure that they were still there and within his sight and then went over. The shop was a mix of of accessories and weapons, all made from different metallic materials, maybe the girls could also find something here. He was looking at some beautiful blades when they caught on to him.

”Hey Keira, don‘t just leave us behind.”

 _Really? They had already a cover name for him? This must really be a lot of fun for them._ Ignoring the name for now, Keith was looking around.

”I wasn‘t. Just some shop further from you.”

”What are you looking at?” Pidge was leaning around his body to get a better look.

”Oh, just some smith work. I think they‘re really well made.”

Now Allura was looking over his shoulder, leaning her chin on it, and also trying to inspect what the stall was selling. It didn‘t take long for her eyes to start sparkling in excitement.

”Ohhh, those are really pretty.” Her eyes fell on the bracelets on the left side.

Like this they spent the next half hour in front of the stand gushing about the different products. This was something for all three of them. A little less for Pidge but she made do, also finding something nice for her taste.

After this they spend about nearly two hours in a cafe, drinking and eating some sweet deserts.

”Never imagined you as someone with a sweet tooth.” Pidge was looking puzzled at Keith.

”You don‘t? Well, I think it is something nice to have occasionally. Never really had much of it in my childhood, so I‘m taking as much as I can now.” Keith was reveling in his chocolate - or space like chocolate - cake.

”Why did you nev-”

”How does yours taste?” Keith interrupted Pidge, not wanting to speak of the past now, especially when they had such a nice day - _and yes, it is nice and has been nice, even dressed as a girl_.

”Oh, eh. I think it tastes really good. Kinda like lemon and oranges.”

”Hey, what was that about the name before?”

”What name? Ohh, you mean Keira? Heh, that’s your new girl‘s name.” Pidge smirked.

”Or did you want something else? We also thought Kate would be nice. But that was pretty similar to Katie’s name, so we were not sure.” Allura added.

”Ok-aaayy. If you think that will be necessary...? I guess both would be fine.” He shrugged and was slurping the rest of his drink.

”So where do we go after this? I was thinking we could go a little clothes shopping.” Allura was beaming, looking hopeful at her companions.

Keith was looking at Allura like she had just sprouted a second head. Pidge was looking similar.

”Oh come on! It will be fun!”

”Ehm, Allura, I now everything has been great until now, but I‘m still a guy.” Keith had now a deadpan expression on his face.

”And?”

”Alright. Come on Keira. See it as a _bonding session._ ” Pidge was smirking at him.

Keith was grumbling but relented in the end. _How bad could it really be?_

It was kinda bad. Well not that much. But right now, Pidge and Allura were roaming around the shop looking for dresses that Keith could wear. He had barricaded himself in the changing room, hidden from all other visitors. They were then forcing him to walk like some model and present them the dresses they had chosen for him. At the beginning, he was just staying inside not daring to leave the safety of the curtain in front of him. Only when Allura blackmailed him with training, did he finally walk outside. He liked training alright, but not when Allura was directing them and banned him from training solo. If he wanted to die or break various bones, there were other ways, to achieve that. So he relented and showed off the clothes.

”How come, they even have this kind of shops. The locals don‘t seem to be buying much from here, guessing by the way they dress.”

Pidge and Allura were just shrugging.

”Maybe because they have many people from other planets visiting. This party next week isn‘t the only one, being held. There is at least one per week.” Allura was explaining.

”Or they want to expand the tourism on their planet, make it a new hot spot for travelling aliens.” Pidge was already thinking about how much technological progress would be made.

”I guess, if you say it like this. All those make sense. After all, we mostly meet people that are visiting here from somewhere else.” Keith had just finished changing into the next outfit and came out. Allura‘s eyes were sparkling when he came out.

”Oh my god, we have to take that one!”

After that Pidge even dragged them to the next shoe store. With the reason that she wanted to see if Keith could walk in even higher heels. And to quell her excitement, he showed her. And yes, he could walk in them without a problem. Even the shop assistant was impressed.

When they finally returned to the castle ship after their girls’ day, Keith just wanted to retreat to his bed and not come out until someone forced him to. His legs hurt from the whole day and he was tired after so much social interaction, even if most of them were with his teammates.

He went into his room and fell face first on his bed, not even caring about getting out of the dress or shoes.

He was jolting awake, when some vargas later someone knocked on his door.

”Hey Keith?” It was Shiro. ”Just wanted to tell you that dinner is ready. You in there?”

Keith just gave up an undistinguishable grunt. On that Shiro entered his room.

”Hey bud, you ok there?”

”Yeah.” His voice was now hoarse after talking so much during the day and then not anymore because of his nap.

”Rough day, heh?” Shiro was ruffling his hair and smiling down at him. ”Were they at least nice?”

”Yeah, it was actually pretty great with them.” Keith was lifting himself up and slowly swinging his legs over the edge of his bed.

”That‘s good to hear. You hungry? Hunk has cooked today.”

On the reminder of Hunks cooking, Keith stomach grumbled. Shiro let out a hearty laugh, while Keith was blushing.

”I guess that‘s a yes.” Shiro was moving up again and about to leave the room when Keith made to follow.

”Oh, eh, I would think about maybe changing first if you don‘t want any comments from the others.”

Keith was now looking down at himself. He had completely forgotten that he had still the dress on.

”Oh. Then, you go on ahead, I will come soon after.”

With that Shiro left his room and Keith changed the dress to his regular clothes. It felt good to be back in pants again. When he was ready, he made his way to the dining hall, already smelling the food on his way there.


	3. Princess Keira

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At the end, I have posted a link to a picture of Keith in his dress ;)

It wasn‘t long until the day came the party was supposed to be. While looking for more information the Paladins had seen many other aliens that were invited to the big ball. It was fascinating how different all of them looked but how well all of them were happily conversing with each other. There were no negative stares, no mean words, well except the occasional dispute about some prices on the market but otherwise it was peaceful. No one could have guessed that here had been many people kidnapped before. Hunk naturally had already bought as many new ingredients as possible for the team. During his stay he had asked many restaurant owners about some recipes and exchanged them. No one had said ’no’ yet to him, after all who could say no to some sunshine like Hunk. Pidge had tried to find out more about the technology on this planet but couldn‘t find much that turned out to be useful. Shiro stayed most of the time with Keith, Allura and Coran in the castle. Lance was flirting up a storm with the planet‘s women. Keith wasn‘t even sure if some of them even identified as female, but he wouldn‘t judge.

The night before the party, he had an easier time falling asleep as one week prior but was still plagued by worries. So instead of lying awake in his bed into the morning hours, he decided to immediately go to the observation room. Just as last week it was empty again. Seems like the others weren‘t as worried as Keith. Lance and Shiro were a bit more reluctant than before after witnessing what could and would happen if Keith was dressing up as bait. But the plan didn‘t change.

They again would act as his companions during the party, while Hunk would come along and dress as a civilian, or more like some important dude from a planet nobody knew. Pidge would stay in the castle with Coran, managing and directing their actions and their surroundings. Allura had wanted to take part in the mission and accompany Keith during the ball. But Coran and the rest of them had dissuaded her from this idea, stating that it would be much saver for Allura and easier for the plan if just Keith went.

So, when the next day came and it was time again for Keith to get dolled up, he reluctantly went to Allura‘s room and knocked. Not even ten ticks later, Pidge was pulling him inside. At first, he was shocked that it was Pidge who had opened the door but thought that she would have surely liked to take part in the transformation from the very beginning. So, Keith showered again and let his hair and make-up be done by Allura. His eyeshadow was held in red, black and gold with some eyeliner and his lips again in a darker red, like the dress he would have to wear.

His hair was done up in a lose well-made bun, with some strands falling loosely down and the top braided over his head and fastened in the back. As finish, a little silver white ornament was put in to hold everything up. When his face and hair were _finally_ done, _really it took hours,_ Allura finally showed him the dress. He had to admit, it was beautiful.

A red fitting to his lipstick with silvery red flower lace over his sleeveless shoulders, making it look like leaves were climbing up his chest. Various layers of overlapping tulle were creating the skirt part. The shoes were luckily not as high as the last ones because the dress reached below his ankles and feet. He got similar earrings from the last time and a necklace with a ruby in tear shape as pendant.

The final product was even better than last week.

”Gosh Keith, you‘re beautiful. I really did an awesome job.” Allura was brushing imaginary tears from her eyes.

”You know, with how you look, I‘m not even sure if this plan will still work or if just some random King from another planet is gonna take you with them.” Pidge was looking at Keith with a thoughtful expression. ”But yeah, I have to agree with Allura here. You look even better than last week.”

”Ehm, thanks, and I hope not.” Keith was getting unsure if they were joking about him or worrying about the plan.

”Well then, let‘s not waste any time, the others are already waiting for us.” Allura was walking on ahead. Keith took a final deep breath and followed her, Pidge right behind him.

* * *

Meanwhile the others were waiting in the control room waiting for the two girls and Keith.

”I really hope they are not planning anything similar to last week. The not knowing was not very comfortable.” Shiro was leaning against his seat going through the plan one last time in his mind.

”Yeah, I dare them to do this again.” Lance had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot impatiently.

”Pff, maybe not for you. But for the rest of us it was hilarious to see your faces when you finally realized that the apparent girl was Keith the whole time.” Hunk was sitting in his chair right next to Coran who was fiddling with his mustache. ”Indeed, number 4 really had a great disguise. Both of you didn‘t recognize him until much later.”

”Heey, they were pretty far away from us, alright!” Lance was throwing his hands in the air, ”Who could have known that Keith would look so good in a dress...”

”I was just as baffled as you when I first saw him in that get-up.” Hunk said, trying to console his friend a little but failing. Lance was still annoyed with how the team had played him and Shiro.

”But I‘m gonna- I‘m gonna do ... _eh something!_ When they try again to pull ... something ... like-”

Lance forgot how to finish his sentence when the door opened, and the missing team members entered. All of them, well maybe except Coran- but he was also really surprised -, were starring with wide eyes and open mouths at the newcomers or more like the bait for the evening. _And man, was that some bait._ They couldn‘t believe their eyes. Keith looked absolutely stunning. The dress sat perfectly, accentuating his curves just right and showing of his small waist.

”Wow, Keith, you look just- wow.” Shiro was the first to be free from his stupor.

”Ye-yeah, you really look beautiful in that dress. Eh I mean, absolutely handsome.” Hunk was the second one. Both of them were already blushing.

Keith was blushing as well and a little giggling at their reactions. This was one good thing about this whole mission, to see his teammates speechless and awestruck.

”Thank, guys. I really hope I did not look too ridiculous. The worst thing would be to appear there in an absolutely embarrassing get-up.”

”Oh shut up Keith. You look awesome.” Pidge was still standing next to him, hitting him on the shoulder. With a mean smirk, Pidge looked to the only paladin who had yet to say anything about Keith‘s looks. ”So, Lance, what do you say about Keith‘s look.”

Lance ripped his eyes away from Keith‘s figure and looked away.

”I guess he looks fine. At least Allura did a good enough job so that nobody will recognize him as a guy.” Lance had turned around and shrugged, hiding his tomato face from the others. The others had seen his red face but Keith hadn‘t picked up on it, looking to the ground and trying to hide the hurt the words had created. He had hoped that all of them would find him somewhat pretty, but he guessed if Lance said that he was just ok then the rest of the party would think the same. Surely the others had only complimented him to encourage him that he was not aborting the mission. But that couldn’t be true. So many people had told Keith before that he was pretty, and they had no reason whatsoever to lie to him. In the end, it doesn’t matter what Lance thinks, only a successful disguise for the mission is necessary and the others would have said something if his looks weren’t enough. So, Keith turned towards the front and asked about the mission‘s status. This way he again didn‘t see how Hunk and Pidge hit Lance‘s side and the guilty look Lance had on his face.

Shiro, Lance and Hunk also were all clothed in tuxedoes with some accents of their lion‘s color. Naturally not too much. It would be quite a picture if four weird, but similar looking aliens would appear dressed in the colors of the universes greatest weapon. While they all had black coats, they had different looking vests, shirts or ties on.

When they were finally ready to depart, the four of them filed into the Altean pod that would bring them to the planet’s surface. During this whole mission, the princess and Coran had hidden the castle some planets further behind an empty star.

When the group arrived at the palace, the room was already filled with all kinds of aliens. All of them dressed in the fanciest looking dresses and suits. Some looked full out ridiculous, like the one woman who had some hair ornaments that let her look like she had a full peacock on her head with a pineapple in its mouth. Some other dude had so many accessories on his body that you could hear them ringing and jingling from the other side of the hall, and it was an enormous hall. It was decorated mostly in golds and whites with occasional color spots on the wall. The ceiling was held in pastel pink and green.

The plan was for Lance to accompany Keith, because their first target had already seen his face in the bar, while Shiro would be a silent guard standing a little further from both of them, Hunk would mingle with the crowd.

”Remember Keithy, always a nice smile on your lips.”

”Shut up, Lance.” Lance was leading Keith by his hands into the large hall.

”Tut tut, that‘s no way for a princess to speak.” Lance was smirking at Keith.

”Wipe that smirk off your face, McClain, or others will get suspicious.” Keith was tempted to step on Lance‘s foot with his heels.

”And anyway, if I‘m a princess, you should listen to everything I say.” Keith was giving Lance one of his sweetest smiles, ”So, shut up.” Lance could clearly see the underlying message Keith had for him. He gulped and continued leading Keith into the room.

They were greeted by some other aliens and opened up some small talk. After a while, Shiro came to Keith and Lance.

”May I ask for this dance?” Both Lance and Keith were looking confused at Shiro.

”Ehm, sure.” Keith gave Shiro his hand and together they walked to the other dancing aliens.

Keith laid his one hand on Shiro‘s shoulder and the other in his hand. Shiro wrapped his arm around Keith‘s waist and started moving.

”I thought it would be good to show you off a little. I already saw Lord Armless.”

”You mean Drayson?” Keith was chuckling while they were spinning to the music.

”Yeah, that one. I swear, if that guy tries something like last week again, he _will_ be armless.”

Shiro continued to spin Keith around. The music was not something both of them were familiar with, but after a while they were recognized repeating rhythms and melodies. Keith‘s dress was swishing elegant on the marble floor. Shiro was really impressed how well Keith could dance even with heeled shoes.

”Soo, anything else until now?” Keith was leaning more towards Shiro when the music had a calmer pause, slowing their movements.

”You mean except all the alien dudes who have been staring at you. No nothing. I thought I saw Minister Azan, but since then I haven‘t seen him again.”

Keith cheeks heated up and a blush appearing on his face. He hadn‘t really been looking that much around, but after Shiro said that he lifted his head a little and looked around the room. He saw various aliens stare at them while they were dancing. His blush only growing stronger.

He groaned, ”Why have I let you guys talk me into this. This is more than embarrassing.”

Shiro chuckled himself, ”Yeah, nothing really that can make that better. But if it‘s any consolation, I think you look great. So, no one has any right to make fun of you.”

”Thanks”, Keith grumbled. He didn‘t really know if that made him happy or not.

While Shiro and Keith were dancing, Pidge was looking through one of the cameras around in the hall, inspecting all the different aliens. While doing that she too realized that lots of the aliens there were looking towards the dancing pair. Well, she was kinda proud of Keith for being such an eye-catcher. Allura and she really did a good job with getting him dressed up, that he was prettier than some of the females in the room. Soon she found the people she was looking for, and as luck has it, they were all standing in the same place. _Weird_. They were standing ... next to each other... talking... and staring at... _KEITH?!!_ Woah woah woah, that was a little much to be coincidental. She watched them more clearly ... and ... yep! All of them were staring at Shiro and Keith while they were dancing.

”Hey guys!!! I think I found something!!” Coran and Allura came running to her station and Hunk and Lance listened carefully to what Pidge had to say.

”What is it, Pidge?”

”You see here?”, Pidge was pointing at her monitor. ”Our three main suspects are all standing here and looking riiight”, Pidge was now showing a video of the dance floor, ”over here.”

”Pidge, can you tell us where they‘re standing?” Hunk and Lance were looking around the hall, but weren‘t able to spot any of those three yet.

”To your eight. Near the wall.”

Lance and Hunk were turning their heads to where Pidge had directed them and yes, there they were.

”Thanks, we found them.”

Meanwhile, the song had ended and Shiro and Keith had taken a step apart from each other, only seconds before two other guests appeared at their sides asking for a dance. With a fake smile as best as he could and a last glance at Shiro, Keith accepted the request right on time when the next song started. The last he could see of Shiro was a mix of a smug grin and irritated expression on his face.

Even after seven more songs, Keith didn‘t get a break from dancing. As soon as one song ended, already a new partner was standing there to take Keith‘s hand.

”Man, that guy sure is popular.” Lance was watching him dance with one person after the other. ”That is not fair.“ Lance was full out pouting, ”Why does Keith get to have some fun and I can‘t go and dance with some pretty princesses?”

”I don‘t think Keith is really having that much fun.” Shiro had a small, grimaced smile on his face. He had made his way over to Lance with something to drink in his hand after having finished his dance with Keith and reluctantly given him over to someone else.

”Maybe you can be his next partner and rescue him from all those slobbering aliens. I bet after all that dancing, he‘s gonna be thirsty.”

”Oh yeah, I bet he‘s thirsty.”

”Lance.” Oh shit, Dad voice.

”Alright alright. He needs something to drink, right. Ok I‘m gonna get him something.”

And Lance was lucky. He was able to sweep in and save princess Keith from his ninth dance in a row. And they hadn‘t even been here for two hours!

”Thanks, Lance. I really could need a break.”

”Sure thing, man. I bet those heels are killing you.” He gave Keith one of the glasses he held in hand which Keith emptied half of it in one gulp.

”Huh? Oh, yeah, that, and more like dying of thirst. They’re not that bad.” When Keith raised his head to face Lance properly, the other seemed a little weirded out while staring at the hem of his dress trying to guess if the shoes had been flatter than he remembered. They weren’t but Keith still didn’t have that much of a problem with them.

“Dancing is actually a pretty great exercise if I can‘t at least fight the gladiator today.” Keith shrugged.

Lance raised his eyebrows, a small smirk on his face, “Of course, Princess Keira would only think about being unable to destroy some metal bots because he has to dance.”

Keith made a face at the name and groaned, “Why did they tell you that?”

Lance’s grin just grew in size, happy to be able to annoy Keith. “What? I think the name is pretty nice.”

“That’s only because, you don’t have to be the one in a dress.”

“Yeah, and I’m enjoying every second you have to be.” Keith would have liked to hit him but was sure that would be very ‘princess-like’. Especially while he still had the feeling that some dozen pair of eyes were still on them.

He put his now empty glass to the side, thinking about getting another one. He was still thirsty. But the opportunity didn’t express itself. Not even five seconds after he had put it down another alien lord was at his side asking for a dance.

He wanted to say no but before he could, Lance pushed him forward almost into the waiting alien’s arms.

“Of course, Princess Keira was just about to return to the dance floor.” Lance gave him a shit eating grin while Keith fixed a glower on him, that would hopefully make him realize that retribution would follow. It made his grin falter a little, to Keith’s delight.

Lance, meanwhile, after having watched Keith a little more twirling and attempting to hide his grimace each time someone stepped on his foot, he walked back to the others. He found Hunk first. Of course, right next to the food.

At some point Shiro joined them. They kept on watching the crowd, keeping their focus on their three targets and Keith. It wasn’t very interesting, the three not moving much and Keith being kept captive on the dance floor by one alien after another. They didn’t know how much time had passed when Pidge contacted them for the first time.

Shiro was just about to step forward to help Keith get a break when Pidge stopped him. ”Hey, guys, the three are moving.”

”I think it would be best if each of you would keep an eye on them. Especially if they seem to take action soon. We may never know if we lose them.” Allura announced.

”Alright. Hunk, you go with Lord Barxan, Lance, you follow Minister Azan and I‘m taking Lord Dreyson. If you see anything unusual, immediately tell the others.” Shiro ordered them. With this all of them went after the one they had been ordered to tail.

Keith still didn‘t get a break after more than 10 songs. His feet hurt and he really wanted something to drink. His current dance partner seemed to have realized that Keith was as good as done with dancing for now, so when the song ended, he didn‘t let go of Keith‘s hand, but instead led them over to the drinks. He was a rather young alien. If he had to compare them to some races he had learned to know, he would say, that he looked similar to the Olkaries. But instead of green and brown he was more light red with purplish antennas. Or whatever these were. He had four arms which all except one had been around Keith‘s waist while dancing. He had dark blue and purple garments with silver accents.

”Here, you must be thirsty.” He was passing Keith a glass with a yellow and orange liquid inside, ”I saw you dancing his whole time without a break. I‘m really sorry for not letting you rest before. But I just couldn‘t give up the chance to dance with such a stunning person like you.” He had a charming smile on his face. ”How about we go take some fresh air, I bet you could use some quiet right now.” He was holding out his arm for Keith to take. Keith was a little reluctant to just follow some random alien to a ’quiet’ place, but he was sure that if something were to happen, the others would be right there and keep an eye on him. Keith linked his arm into the other’s and went along.

They left the dance hall and walked on a huge balcony. From here you could see all the little lights shining from the little huts not far from the palace and the beautiful forest surrounding everything. In the baby blue light of the moon, everything seemed to look like it was made from crystals and moving like the sea. It was breath-taking. Keith hadn‘t yet taken a sip from his drink. Before, Lance had given him the drink and hopefully made sure that he could drink it. Now, he wasn‘t really sure if it was poisonous for humans, but Coran would have said something If there was something that the paladins shouldn‘t eat or drink, right? So, he took a small sip from his beverage. It was sweet and left a light sour aftertaste on his tongue. It was good. While tasting the drink, he didn‘t realize that his partner seemed to grow a little restless.

”This is taking a little too long.” He was mumbling behind Keith.

Keith turned towards the voice, ”Did you say something?”

”Oh no, but don‘t you think that the view from here is really beautiful?”

Keith looked back towards the forest. ”Yeah, it really is.”

*

Before he could realize his companion roughly grabbed his arm and spun him around to face him. Without a warning he pressed his lips to Keith‘s and kissed him. Keith tried to struggle and get out of the grip but discovered that he couldn‘t move his body as he‘d like. He had lost all of his strength. While Keith tried to get away, the alien had shoved his tongue into Keith‘s mouth and released some liquid down the other‘s throat. They had moved backwards until Keith’s back hit the railing. He tried to spit it out and not to swallow, but as soon as he got away from the kiss, the alien put one of his hands on his mouth and the other pinched his nose, cutting of his airway.

Panicking without any air getting into his lungs Keith swallowed the liquid. Now he had lost all feeling in his limps and fell to the ground after the alien released him. This couldn‘t have worked this fast!! Unless, he had already swallowed something before. He looked to the side to his glass that had fallen down and grew cold. The alien had its back turned when he picked up the drinks. He must have put something in there without Keith seeing it. And now he had just added something through forcing it down his throat.

”Good dreams.” the alien was leaning down towards Keith whose eyes grew heavier and heavier until they fully closed and Keith fell to the side.

The alien had an evil grin on his face. He picked Keith up princess-style, kicked the lost glass over the railing and jumped over it, landing without a problem on the ground.

**

* * *

Meanwhile inside, the other three were tailing their suspects.

”Shit!”

”What is it, Pidge?” Shiro had all his attention on the man only some meters in front of him sparring only a little to the swearing Green Paladin. ”And language!”

”All the surveillance cameras just went black. I can‘t get any view of the room and its occupants. It all just went black.”

”Well the cameras are still operating in the room. No one took a shot as them.” Lance looked up to where he knew the cameras were supposed to be.

”Keep trying Pidge. Tell us when you get the screen back online.”

After some fiddling with her tech, Pidge had the picture back.

”Yeah, its back online guys.”

”Good job Pidge.”

”Well done gremlin.”

”Don‘t call me that, beansprout, or you‘ll regret it later.” Pidge kept looking at her screen and scanned the room. Once then twice and yes. He couldn‘t see him.

”Hey guys?”

”What‘s up now, Pidge?” Lance already sounded annoyed. No scratch that. He sounded more annoyed than before.

”Have any of you visuals on Keith? I can‘t find him on my screen.”

”What do you mean you can‘t find him? You have an overview of the whole place.”

”Urgh, if you had listened to me just now. I said my screen went completely black. Before that he was still standing at the drinks.”

”Shit! So, we lost sight of our bait?”

”Don‘t tell me none of you kept Keith in your line of sight?!”

”Ehm, well I didn‘t. I was just looking at Lord Barxan.” Hunk was confessing quietly.

”Me too. I just kept my eyes on Minister ’I flirt with every female in the room’.”

”Lance, you don‘t get to judge. But if none of us can see Keith, then where is he?! Damn it, we lost our bait. How dumb were we to forget about the person we should be protecting and keeping an eye on?!!”

”Shiro calm down.”

”Calm down?! Keith is nowhere to be seen, dressed as the perfect target to those kidnapping cases while our three main suspects are just standing around and haven‘t even been within a five meter radius of Keith! How am I supposed to keep my calm?” Shiro was at least not shouting into the comm. Instead he was running around looking for where Keith might be. Lance, Hunk and Shiro met at the drinks

”Shiro, you have to calm down. We‘re gonna find Keith.” Hunk was trying to soothe Shiro.

”You‘re right. Sorry I lost my head there. Without a clear mind we will never find him. Pidge? Can you maybe look at the recordings and tell us where he went?”

”Already on it. Just give me a minute. And voila! Let me see....Keith went... He followed some dude to the balcony. It‘s the second door to your right.”

”Thanks. Can you maybe keep an eye on the three lords while we‘re looking for Keith. Maybe they‘ll still do something.”

”Sure thing, Shiro.”

When they ran outside, nobody was to be seen. The balcony was absolutely empty.

”We‘re too late.” Shiro was only keeping upright by leaning his upper body on the railing, while searching the ground below for any movement.

”Here’s some liquid on the floor, so they must have been here not too long ago.” Hunk was pulling out a little machine Coran had given him to analyze all the chemicals in the food to see if they were poisonous. He let the little machine scan the ground.

”Yep, that was definitely spiked with something. From the looks of it, some muscle relaxant stuff.”

”Great. At least now we know, that Keith really had been kidnapped from right under our noses. And we got the reason why he couldn‘t fight back properly.”

”We were supposed to keep an eye on him. He was depending on us keeping him save.” Shiro was nearly crying. How could he have disappointed Keith so bad.

”Let‘s go back to the castle. Maybe Pidge can hack into some more cameras and find the guy who did this.” All of them nodded and left the party, but not after having looked after their suspects a last time. They were still talking with many other people.

”Allura, just to make sure. There is no one left on the party who could fit the image of the kidnapped women?”

”No there isn‘t, Shiro. You can come back to the castle without worrying about anybody else.“

Shiro sighed and turned around to follow the other two out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Cause I'm to dumb to put a picture on this site, here is a link to what I imagine Keith to look like in his dress :D
> 
> https://redblackdragon.tumblr.com/
> 
> If anyone knows how to do that, feel free to tell me ;)


	4. Shipped Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge kept looking at her screen and scanned the room. Once then twice and yes. He couldn‘t see him.  
> “Hey guys? Have any of you visuals on Keith? I can‘t find him on my screen.”
> 
> When they ran outside, nobody was to be seen. The balcony was absolutely empty.  
> “We‘re too late.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LAST CHAPTER! :D
> 
> Warning: Here comes the (quite heavy) non-consesual touching (Please be careful if you‘re triggered by something like that). It's pretty much throughout the whole chapter, so I'm not gonna put warning mark everywhere.  
> Please tell me, if the taggs are enough and if you think this fic is more 'teen and up' or 'mature'. I'm really bad at this.

Keith woke up to heat. The blood in his veins was burning his whole body from the inside out. He could feel the sweat on his face. But the place he found himself in was cold as ice. Only his body was burning up. What was wrong with him? And... where was he?

When he opened his eyes, he found that he couldn’t see anything. He blinked some times to make sure that his eyes were indeed open, but nothing. He still could only see black all around him. Or more like directly in front of him, something was hindering his vision as he soon felt. His mouth was also shut tight, probably with some kind of space tape, as Lance would call it. When he tried to move, he realized that his hands were bound behind his back, same as his legs. The material felt like something like rope. But seriously, rope? In space? Like space shuttles could fly at the speed of light but they restrained people with simple rope? Nope sorry, not really believable. Some rattling behind him alerted him so some chains. He couldn’t see but he was pretty sure that they chained him to the wall or something like that. He tried to wiggle out of his bonds, but they held fast, only with rubbing his head along his shoulders could he loosen the blindfold. Soon it was hanging just over his eyes almost like Hunk’s headband.

Speaking of Hunk, Keith now remembered where he was. He remembered the party, the many people who had wanted to dance with him, the one alien to get him a drink and lead him to a balcony and- _He had been overpowered and kidnapped! Goddamnit!_

But where were the others? Weren’t they supposed to watch him? Urgh, that’s just Keith’s luck. Dress up as a girl and get kidnapped by human traffickers - or more like alien traffickers... But nonetheless, why did he accept this shitty mission. He wasn‘t able to defend himself and drank some kind of drug like some idiot. He is not some damsel in distress, no, nope not happening. But the situation seemed to display reality a little differently.

Now, that he had finally his sight back he looked around him. He had indeed been bound by some rope. The only unusual thing about it was that it seemed to be reinforced with some steel strings. So rubbing it open was out of the door, great. He was still in the red dress. The hem was a little frayed and dirty but otherwise still looked to be intact. Nobody had ripped the dress from his body and saw that he wasn‘t in fact female. If that was a good thing or not, he couldn‘t decide. Who knew, for all he knew those aliens could throw him on the next space dump to get rid of him.

At least one third of his hair has hanging in strands from his head. They fell onto his shoulders, back and into his face. The rest was still in his braid and bun, even if pretty messily. He was quite sure his make-up was smudgy and in streaks on his face. The sweat wasn’t helping with it.

Maybe they would let him go free if he didn’t look as pretty anymore as they had believed. The chance was as good as zero, but he still held some hope. He had been wiggling so much that the blindfold was now lying on the ground, but everything else still held fast.

Before he could try anything more, he heard footsteps outside. Thinking fast, he lay back down, hoping they wouldn’t realize that he got rid of the blindfold and instead think he never got one to begin with. When he had closed his eyes, not even seconds later, the door opened, washing the room in bright yellow light. But the light didn’t shine onto his eyelids for long, because a shadow had taken its place. Keith forced himself to slow his breathing, not to flutter his eyes and keep as calm as he could. But it seemed that his efforts were in vain. Whoever was standing in front of him, seemed to have realized that Keith was awake. Or he simply did not care. Because not soon later, a hand descended onto his hair and grabbed it, lifting Keith slightly up from the ground. He winced as his hair was pulled and shot his eyes open to glare at the offender. The guy in front of him was no one else but the young alien that had taken him, an evil grin plastered on his face.

At Keith’s glare, he roughly yanked Keith’s head forward, eliciting a yelp from the raven.

”Good morning, Princess. I hope you had a nice sleep.”

Keith would have liked to insult him, spit him in the face, or just do anything but the only thing he could to with his mouth shut was growl at the alien. With his hands behind his back and his legs tied together, he couldn’t even really grab the alien‘s arm or his hair to stabilize himself, so that he wasn’t just hanging from the alien’s grasp.

”Well, I guess maybe not. But who cares?” The alien just shrugged.

”We do.” The voice came from the direction of the door. The alien stood right in front Keith, so he couldn’t see who it was at first. That was until the guy turned around and let Keith fall unceremoniously to the floor like a sack of potatoes. At the sight of the men before him, Keith’s eyes widened. There were all of their three suspects! Not only one. They were all together in this! Lord Dreyson, as Keith remembered, stood at the center of the group and looked down at the raven. He then proceeded to step forwards and get on one knee in front of Keith who still lay on the ground. He gently laid one hand on Keith’s cheek, lifting his face a little to look at him and the other began to stroke his head and pull the hair away from his face.

*

”Hello, my dear. You don’t know how happy I am to see you again.” He stroked his thump under Keith’s eye and over his cheekbone. It would have been a loving gesture if it wasn’t executed by one of the men who had kidnapped him. Keith wanted to pull away but as soon as he moved back, the gentle hands became rough and tightly held his chin between the Lord’s fingers.

”Don’t!” He commanded with a harsh tone but softened it immediately after. ”I really don’t want to hurt you and your pretty face. It’s bad for business, you see. And I wouldn’t like to hurt a beautiful thing like you.”

While Keith had his hateful glare directed at the man in front of him, he didn‘t realize that the other two had also moved towards him and were now standing around him. One directly behind him and the other to his left. When he saw - or more like felt them - he began to struggle again.

”And what a beautiful young thing you are.” Minister Azan whispered in his ear while brushing his hair from his shoulder. He had a surprisingly deep voice for an alien as lanky as him. He was a thin green alien with long arms and 10 fingers on each hand, bird like feet and three legs, two cat tails with some part that are thicker and other that were thinner, looking like small balloons were stuck halfway to the tip.

”Yeah, Dray’ had told us about you. But it seems like his description wasn’t as alluring as the real thing.” Lord Braxan, a hulking brown-yellow alien with lots of muscle mass, human like eyes with a dark grey color without pupils and a bear face, was moving his hands up and down Keith’s sides, squeezing now and then again. Keith tried not to tremble from their touches, but he was failing miserably. He was feeling nauseous. He wanted them to stop. Drayson still hadn‘t lost eye contact with the young boy, still grinning and holding his chin up. Keith wanted to continue glaring at him, but every second they didn’t move their hands away from his body made his mind weaker. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was scared. Scared of what they would do to him.

When Keith heard the zipper on his back being opened, he came out of his stupor and began struggling again. This time ripping his chin from the Lord’s hand and kicking off the other two with his bound legs. He threw himself back and pushed himself with his back against the wall, glaring at the three men in the room.

”I guess, that‘s the end with our fun for now. Come now, gentlemen. We should give the Lady a little space. ” With that they left the room and closed the door again, washing the cell again in darkness. Only the light from under the door illuminated the room.

When they had finally left and Keith couldn’t hear any footsteps from outside anymore, he broke down. He wasn’t bawling his eyes out or anything, but shivers started to wreck his body. An after reaction to the confrontation just now. He let his whole body fall forward, his head resting on his knees. He really wished his arms were free to wrap around his body. His body was now as cold as the room. The heat from when he woke up had left his body. Now he was left alone, shivering and not knowing where exactly he was and when his friends would come.

**

* * *

The team meanwhile was doing everything they could to locate their missing team member. When they had returned the night prior all of them couldn‘t believe what had happened to them. They were absolutely depressed and crestfallen. Just how had they lost sight of Keith. This should have been their top priority and they had failed. They failed to help the planet, they failed to catch the kidnappers and they failed to protect their red paladin. How could they call themselves the paladins of Voltron? While Lance, Shiro and Hunk hung back and approached the bridge very slowly as if in trance, Coran, Allura and Pidge were working for a way to locate Keith. Coran analyzing the cameras in the hall and the surrounding ones and Pidge on her station with the tracker they had given Keith. Allura was running between the two helping where they needed help. They were interrupted when finally, the three paladins entered the bridge. The Alteans looked up at their entry and welcomed them with sad looks. When Shiro got out of his trance, he whipped his head up and stormed over demanding if they had anything that they could use, anything so that he could leave the castle again and look for Keith. The girls‘ expressions became even more apologetic.

”I‘m sorry, Shiro. But right now, we have nothing to give you.” Allura had her hands joined in front of her, debating if she should approach the black paladin and soothe his ragging sadness. Would laying her hand on his shoulder help him, just like he always did? Shiro‘s short look of hope vanished as fast as it had appeared.

”Well, not exactly nothing.” Pidge had now turned around to look at the older paladin. Lance and Hunk also now at his side. She pushed her glasses up and turned back to her computer.

”Before Keith had left the castle, Allura and I gave him a tracker in form of an earring. So as long as he still has it and was not...”

”Not forcibly stripped?” At Lance‘s harsh statement everybody visibly flinched, especially Pidge. They were lucky that Shiro was not falling into a frenzy. Realizing what kind of reaction his statement could have bestowed upon them, Lance immediately glanced down at Shiro‘s prosthetic, it wasn‘t glowing, at least yet.

”Y-yeah, kinda. Well as I wanted to say. As long as he still has the tracker, we should able to find him.”

”So, why haven‘t you found him yet? Why are we still here?” Hunk asked.

”Weeell, we kinda lost the signal.” All of them were looking at Pidge like she just sprouted a second head. ”Something is blocking it!” Pidge tried to explain, ”It is still active, so there shouldn‘t be a problem, but I can‘t figure out the location. Maybe will a little more time, I will be able to find it.” Their faces showed that they weren‘t fully convinced.

”Guys! You know me, I can do it. I am a Holt after all.”

”You‘re right. So you do that. And we others.... will see what we can do.”

* * *

Keith had been laying in the little cell for hours now. Nobody had made the effort to give the boy something to drink or eat. And slowly, Keith’s throat became parched. He hadn’t really drunk anything since the ball. Even there he only had half a drink after he had danced so much. And it was just his luck that exactly that drink was spiked with something.

During his stay, he had tried again and again to rub at the binds and loosen them. But no luck so far. By now, he simply rubbed them on the metal and concrete walls to pass the time. After various tries, he had managed to get rid of his shoes. Those heeled monstrosities were hurting his feet even while sitting on the ground. His hair had become even more tangled in the effort to find a position that was somewhat comfortable. By now, Keith was purely shivering because of the freezing cell. He cold room made goosebumps appear on his bare arms and legs. The dress wasn’t really helping in keeping him warm. Like this the time went by. If only some minutes or hours he couldn‘t guess. But judging that the light outside hadn‘t changed, it shouldn‘t have been that long. After looking around a little more around his cell, he found a window right above him. He could look out and it was clearly to small for him to fit through. But no light had appeared yet.

After some more time of waiting, Keith heard footsteps closing in on his cell. He didn’t know if he should be glad or uneasy. After all, he didn’t want a repeat from before. But when the door opened, it only showed a long-limbed thin alien carrying something that looked like it was something to drink. His eyes widened at the prospect of finally getting something to drink. Keith soon realized that he had to calm himself not to seem to desperate. He didn’t want to give them anything they could use for their advantage. Right behind the smaller alien was another one, who looked much more buff but kept waiting in front of the door, making sure that Keith could not escape.

The thin alien came closer and closer until he stood right in front of Keith. Judging by his expression, the alien wasn‘t as comfortable with Keith as his employers, he even seemed a little scared. But nonetheless, without waiting much, the alien ripped off the tape from his mouth.

”Fuuuuu-”, Keith bit his tongue. Fuck, did that hurt. Why did that asshole do that. He absolutely didn‘t seem the type to have fun, ripping almost the skin off his victims‘ faces.

”Here.” The alien held the beverage right towards Keith‘s mouth. Apparently, it _was_ something to drink.

”Would you be so kind to untie me? So that I can drink?” Keith asked lifting one eyebrow. It took all his power not to snap at the alien. The alien who only shook his head, ”No, can do. You’ll have to drink like this.”

Keith groaned internally. He thought about refusing, to firstly drink something he didn’t know, secondly take it from someone who had drugged him before and thirdly, letting someone ‘feed’ him. But he gave in. It wouldn’t do him any good to get even more dehydrated. He leaned forward a little to first inspect the drink, and then sniffed a little. It didn‘t have much color and was odorless. It wouldn’t do him any good to drink something that was drugged, _again._ Risking it, Keith took his first sip. It didn’t taste like much. So he took a second, and a third. Soon he was gulping down the whole glass, without realizing how desperate he must have looked. Not long after the glass was fully empty, but Keith was still thirsty. But he guessed that he wouldn’t get more. So it would just had to do for now.

However, before he could be happy that his throat wasn’t playing desert anymore, a pair of footsteps appeared outside the door. And no other than one of his kidnappers came in. Before Keith could even utter a single word, the tape was put back over his mouth. Keith grumbled but immediately directed his hate-filled glare to the man walking towards him.

”How are you today, princess?” Lord Dreyson strolled up to him, kneeling down when he had reached Keith.

*

Keith just continued to glare at the bronze alien. At least his companions weren‘t with him, at least for now, who knew when they would appear outside his cell. The Lord again had his hands on Keith‘s body, stroking his head and squeezing his side. Keith tried to kick him away with both his legs, but his plan backfired. Instead of hitting Dreyson, the later just caught them and pulled on them, so that Keith was now lying on his back below him. Realizing the position Keith found himself in, he tried to get up again as fast as he could but Lord Dreyson had placed his hand on Keith‘s shoulder and now held the boy down. The panic was obvious in Keith‘s eyes and even though he tried not to show the alien how scared he was, the other recognized that expression as soon as it appeared.

”Woah, calm down, pretty. We don‘t want you to hurt yourself struggling.” He was petting and soothing Keith‘s hair back, but after only five seconds, the soft motions became harsh and Dreyson gripped the hair, pulling his head back, exposing his neck.

”Yeah, yeah, really pretty.” He drawled, ”Absolutely stunning and beautiful.” Lord Dreyson had moved his face into the hollow of Keith‘s throat and moved along his neck sniffing and nuzzling. Keith yelped when he felt something slimy and wet trail along his skin. He lay frozen on the ground after more struggling. But the alien had more strength than he did. While one hand was still tangled in his hair, the other trailed to his legs and moved his hands up and down. The skirt of the dress was hiked up to his upper tights. Goosebumps had appeared all over his skin and the rough glide of the alien‘s hands on Keith‘s skin made him shiver in disgust. But the alien didn‘t care about the state his prisoner was in, just continuing to nibble on his neck and stroking his skin.

”You know, I really don‘t know if we should sell you or keep you to ourselves. You really are a little prize. I bet you‘d make a great pet. But on the other hand, I‘m pretty sure you‘d bring a nice sum on the market. We still have some days to make our decision. We will arrive on the planet after some more time.”

Keith froze at the alien‘s words. They would need some days to arrive on the planet? Meaning they had left Montura?! Shit! Where were the others?! How long had he slept and daydreamed?

At the sudden stop in struggling, Dreyson looked up at their prisoner. A smirk appeared on his face when he saw the expression on the princess‘ face.

”Yes, my dear, we have left the planet a quintant or so ago. Aww, had you hoped, your guards would find you before anything happened? My apologies, but they‘ll never know who it was that took your pretty little body.” He caressed Keith‘s cheek once more, ”We took certain measures to get them off our trail.” He leaned down again to whisper in Keith‘s ear. The hot breath made goosebumps appear on his skin.

”Don‘t worry wherever you will land in the end, I bet your new owner will take good care of you.” He emphasized his point by squeezing Keith‘s waist.

Keith just stared at him with wide eyes but narrowed them soon after. He believed in his team, he was sure, wherever he was right now, they would find him before it was too late.

**

When Lord Dreyson‘s comms beeped, he luckily got up again and finally left Keith.

”Maybe I will come again later, cutie. Wait for me.” With a last wink he left the cell and the door closed again.

Keith shuddered at the alien‘s words, he really hoped he wouldn‘t follow after his words.

But as it was just Keith‘s luck, after an unknown amount time, he returned and the worst thing was that he wasn‘t alone. Keith guessed after what Lord Dreyson had said last time, that at least a day and a half must have passed since he had been taken. The three men, Lord Dreyson, Minister Azan and Lord Barxan entered the cell. Each one of them with a perverted and lustful smirk on their faces. Those bastards had something planned that sure as hell would not be as entertaining for Keith as it was for them. Keeping his sight on those three, Keith shuffled upright and tried to get in a more defensive position. Well as defensive as he could with his legs and arms bound. If looks could kill, they would already be rotting somewhere.

”Ohh, don’t look like that, sweety.” Lord Draxan said as he came closer.

”Yeah, don’t worry, we won’t hurt you.” Keith believed no words they said. Maybe in _their_ opinion, they might think that they were not physically hurting him, but Keith had a different perception of the things they were likely to be doing to him. He growled lowly at them daring them to step even one step closer. But as expected they didn’t even mind anything Keith did, instead coming closer until they were standing right above him.

*

Azan pulled him forward by his legs so that Keith was laying on his back again. Struggling to get up again, Braxan went over to his head, sitting down and pulled Keith back so that Keith sat now back to chest to his captor. He held tightly onto Keith’s arms restricting his movement and positioned them so that he were now facing the other two. His knees on both sides of Keith‘s hips. Azan knelt down in front of him inspecting the dress. After some minutes of contemplating, he pulled out a knife and cut the skirt off until it ended right in the middle of Keith’s tights. Keith tried to pull his legs back to his body to protect himself from whatever they had planned but Azan held tight onto them.

”Tsk Tsk Tsk, don’t move around so much. We don’t want you to hurt yourself.” But even while saying that, Barxan and Azan tightened their grip on his limps making Keith quietly hiss at the pressure. They were sure to leave bruises. He really hoped those would stay the only ones.

”So, now on to the examination.” Keith whipped his head around to the last man. Examination? They were kidding right? Keith absolutely didn’t like the sound of that. He yanked again at his legs but the hands weren‘t budging. The next thing happened too fast to understand, one moment they were cutting off the steel rope around his ankles and the next they were ripping his legs apart and cuffed them to the ground with some hidden cuffs, that had appeared out of nowhere. Keith started panicking at the new position. His upper body was still leaning on Lord Barxan and his legs were spread wide open with cuff holding them there. And with his dress cut as short as it was Keith mind was running wild with terrible ideas to what they could do. When he felt the first touch of cold hands on the inside of his tights, the panic came to an abrupt halt and his whole world froze. The only sounds he could hear was white noise and his vision had zeroed in on the two men who were sitting in front of him staring down at his lower body. When everything started blackening at the edges, Keith realized that his labored breathing wasn‘t doing him any favors. But no matter how hard he tried to take deep breath, no oxygen would enter his lungs.

The men had seen Keith‘s reaction, first thinking that the little girl had already been trained by someone but then accepting that she might just be behaving like that, not caring about the panic attack their captive had.

Keith had started lightly struggling again, pulling on the restrains and trying to keep his knees closed, but it wasn‘t working as he would have liked it to. His legs were too far apart to successfully close them. He cried into the bindings covering his mouth, whining and giving out other inhuman sounds. Tears had gathered in his eyes when the men started cutting off his underwear. They ran down his cheeks leaving black trails on their way.

Lord Dreyson saw the tears and wiped them away, ”Aw, now don‘t cry, don‘t worry my dear, it is just a small examination. We must make sure that everything is fine with the goods. Keith‘s entire body shook; a mix of growls and whines left his throat and he started struggling again.

”Now come on! Keep still!” Lord Barxan shouted into his ear pulling his head up by his chin.

”Let‘s see what we have here. Huh....” Keith froze again at the silence that followed, ”Quite interesting I have to say.” Had they now found out that he was a guy and not in their list of people they tried to sell?

”Seems like the race missy comes from has two reproductive organs.” _Shit_ , they still believed he was a girl.

”Hmm, that will bring a nice price. A pretty pet for everyone.” The leering face he was met with, let Keith‘s insides drop into a bottomless pit.

”Seems like our decision is made then?”

”Yes, sadly something like this will bring too much money to keep it to ourselves.” Dreyson replied, but the expression quickly changed, ”But maybe we can still have some fun before selling.” The words were accentuated when the rough hands met the soft skin of Keith‘s belly. Pushing further up below his dress.

The three aliens crowded around Keith, leaning closer to his body and staring down like he was some kind of meal. Keith wanted to fight, he wanted to fight back so badly, but the strong grip still on his arms and the cuffs on his ankles prevented that.

**

Just when he thought, this could only end in a nightmare, the ship shook and all of the cell’s occupants rolled to the side. Keith as well, but due to the cuffs still wrapped around his legs he only fell to the side and a sudden sharp pain erupted in his leg. A loud whine left his throat. He had obviously fallen the wrong way from where his legs were supposed to be. Being dragged to the side by the other three still holding on to him, didn‘t help either. Also, he was fairly sure that something had happened to his ankle. He really hoped it wasn‘t broken. The part where tight met body hurt as well.

Hell broke out outside, the few members of the crew were running around judging by the wild footsteps outside. The sirens were blaring and yellow light of blinking on and off.

His three captors stumbled to their feet looking, looking in the least pleased about the development.

”Damnit, what is it now?!” Lord Dreyson swore, ”Barx, you stay here. We don‘t want some random pirates to get their filthy hands on our little bag of money.” He and Azan left the room running towards where Keith guessed must have been the bridge.

”Seems like it‘s only you and me now.” With a smile that would even have made a stalker shudder, he approached the still bound Keith and knelt down dwarfing Keith in his shadow. Keith tried to inch back little by little but the binds and chains held tight. Before he could lay another hand on his body, blue light filled the room for a short time and Barxan fell to the floor next to him, unconscious. Keith looked up. Happiness filled him when his eyes fell on the familiar white, blue and green of the Paladin uniforms.

”Oh my god, Keith!!” Pidge was the first to storm inside the cell and fall to the ground hugging her friend as tight as she could. Keith really would have liked to hug her back, but he still had the problem with his bound legs and arms. He tried to make the fact known to Pidge, who still hadn‘t let go.

”Yo, Pidgeon, I think Keithy would be real grateful if you could let him go and untie him first.” At Lance‘s voice, she looked back up, inspecting her friend.

”Oh, shit, sorry Keith,” she wiped off the tears that had run down her face, ”I‘m just so happy that we have finally found you.”

”Pidge, Language.” Came Shiro‘s voice over the comm, ”And good thing that you finally found him.”

”You found him?” Hunk‘s face appeared from outside the cell, he broke down when his eyes found the Red Paladin, ”Keeeeiitthh!!” He too ran inside, inspecting Keith from top to bottom. When his sight fell on his lower area, a red blush appeared on his face that was quickly turning an even darker shade when the embarrassment made space for rage. ”What the- What have they done to you?!! Do I have to kill someone?”

”What? What‘s wrong? If Hunk threatens to kill someone it has to be really serious.” Lance‘s gaze too landed on the area Hunk‘s had only been on moments prior additionally to the ripped underwear lying right next to Keith. The dress was still long enough to hide Keith‘s private area but the shredded dress and underwear was story enough to what might have happened here. Pidge meanwhile had pulled the tape carefully from Keith’s face and was just done cutting the bindings around his wrists with her bayard. The skin there was rubbed raw and bleeding at some places. She held onto his arms, knowing that it would hurt like hell to move them again. Judging by his expression of pain she had guessed right that he had been in this position for hours. Slowly he pulled them to his front again, wincing every few seconds and the sharp pain as his limbs filled with blood again.

”Thanks guys,” His voice was scratchy and rough. After all he was still could use something to drink, and probably also something to eat. ”You really came just in the last second.”

”Oh damn, Keith, we‘re so sorry!” Pidge fell around Keith‘s neck. The later flinched slightly by the fast movement but caught himself immediately and hugged her back this time.

”It‘s fine. You‘re here, right? That‘s all that counts. I knew I could count on you.” He patted her back slightly. ”Now, could you maybe get rid of the other cuffs? This position is really not comfortable.”

”Already on it, buddy.” Blue lights filled the room again and the cuffs were off. Lance was blowing the wind over his riffle like it was a gun from the movies.

”Can you stand?” Hunk went over to Keith and held his hands out for them to catch his friend might he fall. And it was good he did. Cause when Keith tried to get up on his legs, a sharp pain ran up his spine all the way from his ankle and his legs gave out. It wasn‘t helpful that his legs were still shaky from the scene he had to experience just before the Paladins appeared.

”Woah, easy there.” Lance went to Keith‘s other side, stabilizing him.

”Yeah, maybe I can‘t stand. They were still grabbing my body, when the ship tilted to the side.”

”No problem.”

”What do you- woah!” With one swift movement, Keith was resting in Hunk‘s arms. The yellow paladin had lifted him up to carry him princess style back their ship.

”A princess has to be treated right, am I right?” Lance laughted from the side, Pidge soon joining him. Keith just pouted because his teammates again were making fun of him and Hunk just continued carrying Keith while smiling about his friends.

Hunk brought Keith to the yellow lion and carefully laid him down on one of the little cots in the back. Together they flew back to the castle.

The others were already expecting them in the docking bay when Yellow landed. Hunk again carefully picked Keith up and went down the ramp. They were met with Allura, Coran and Shiro standing expectantly before the Yellow Lion. Somebody must have informed them who Keith was riding with.

Shiro was just so happy to finally have Keith back. The last two days had been pure horror. Everybody had worked day and night to bring him back. They had to force themselves to take even a small nap, because otherwise they wouldn‘t have been able to function anymore. Shiro had it especially rough. His mind was plaguing him with guilt. The voice in his head repeated again and again how it was his fault that Keith had been kidnapped. That he should have kept an eye on his brother. But he had soon realized that the others felt exactly the same. Each of them thought it was their fault that Keith was gone. But they couldn‘t wallow in self-pity, they had to find Keith. And thanks to Pidge they finally did. She had overwritten the signal and was able to locate the ships coordinates. They were shocked to see how far it was actually already away from Montura. As fast as they could, they steered the castle in that direction and fabricated a plan. The plan consisted mostly of ambush and attack, but they at least tried to look for some more specific strategizing.

So when Keith finally came down the ramp of the yellow lion, lying in Hunk‘s arms, a weight fell of his shoulders. But the delight soon went over to concern. His dress was cut up, only a little of the skirt remaining to protect Keith‘s privacy. His hair was tangled, only some strands still up in the hair-do, Alllura had done two days before. _Man, it hadn‘t even been two days?_ His face was dirty with dust and smudged make-up. It was obvious by the way it streaked down his face, that Keith had been crying at some point. Shiro would kill whoever had hurt him, if the others hadn’t already done that. And if they did, he was pretty sure that he still had some ideas what he could do to their corpses.

”Keith, we’re so glad that you’re back with us.”

”Me too, Allura. Thank you, guys, for getting me.”

”What are you talking about, Mullet, of course we‘d come and save you.” Lance had a genuine smile on his face, no hint of the usual sarcasm.

”Do you think you need a pod?”

”Hm, I‘m not sure. My ankle and tight hurts. Could be sprained and a pulled muscle. Don‘t know if a pod is really necessary.”

”Maybe not, but I will take a look at it if you‘re ok with it.” Coran came up next to him.

”And I will make you something to eat. I bet those guys hadn‘t anything good on board.” Hunk offered.

”Yeah, I won‘t say no to that. They actually didn‘t give me anything.” Keith shrugged lightly.

”That has to be changed immediately.” Keith let out a slight yelp as Hunk suddenly handed Keith over to Shiro who still stood at the edge of their group. Both blushed at the sudden change.

Hunk trotted away towards the kitchen followed by Lance.

“Well then, lads, off to the med bay!” Coran explained and headed out of the Hangar the others right behind him. Pidge stayed right besides Shiro and Keith, throwing worried glances towards her teammate then and now.

“Hey, Keith?”

Keith hummed and glanced at his friend, but she didn‘t meet his eye. Just continued staring at the ground while wringing her hands.

“Could you maybe tell us what happened? You know at the party?” Finally, she looked up again, tears shimmering in her eyes, making Keith‘s heart ache.

“I‘m so sorry I lost sight of you. The screen went black for some minutes and when I got it back on you were gone, and I‘m so sorry, we didn‘t find you fast enough.” Pidge sniffed.

“Hey, no no no, don‘t, please. It‘s absolutely not your fault. None of you.” He looked at Shiro who had guilt written clearly on his face, “Really, I mean it. They had planned all that. I don‘t know how, but they somehow knew that you guys came with me. So they used someone else to get me and distract you.”

“Sure, that could be, but it still wasn‘t right of us to lose sight of you. We have been so focused on those guys that somehow none of us kept an eye on you.” Shiro squeezed Keith body tighter to his own. “And we‘re really sorry for that. That shouldn’t have happened no matter what they had planned. We promised to look out for you, and we failed. Nothing you could say or prove would let us think different on that.”

Keith didn‘t know what to say. They continued through the hallways to the med bay, neither of them speaking. Maybe Shiro was right and a little bit of fault lay on them, but Keith could never fault them for that. Never. He just couldn‘t be angry at them for something like that - for focusing on the things they had talked about. And to be honest, he thought that it was entirely his own fault. After all, he should have been able to fend them off, and see the situation for the trap it was. Maybe he should just tell them that. Give them something to laugh about.

“Y’know. It was actually pretty dumb. On my part that is. After all that dancing I was just exhausted and really thirsty. And when that one alien dude, led me from the dance floor, handed me something to drink and we went out on the balcony, I didn’t even think about it. Honestly, when I think back on it, I feel like that dumb blond girl in every horror movie who jumps right into danger.” Keith chuckled lightly and scratched his neck thinking about how he should explain the rest, “And, well yeah, end of the story was that the drink was drugged leading to me passing out and waking up at some point on that ship.”

When Keith looked back at his friends, he only saw more guilt written on their faces. Obviously, his little attempt of a joke didn‘t work. Maybe if Lance had been here, it would have worked. After all, he was the one who could always lift their spirits.

“Oh, come on, guys. I thought _I_ was supposed to be the emo one. You _saved_ me if nothing else. I knew I could count on you. I knew that our little genius here would find a way.” Keith reached out towards the Green Paladin and ruffled through her light copper hair. Finally, a little smile reappeared on his friend’s face.

“And in the end, we found the perpetrators. Who would‘ve thought that it would be all three of them...” He shrugged lightly with one shoulder, trying to lighten the situation a little. Sure, it had been kinda scary and he didn‘t want to ever experience something like that again, but his number one priority right now was to make sure that none of the others felt guilty about what happened.

“Actually, what did happen with them? Have you restrained them?”

“Coran contacted people who would handle them. After Hunk carried you out, Lance and I captured the rest of them and locked them in one of their own cells stripped and chained.”

Keith almost laughed at Pidge‘s satisfied face and posture.

“I wished I could have taken part in that.” Now, Keith did let out a little snort at Shiro‘s mumbled remark.

“Lighten up, Shiro. Really, I‘m fine.” Keith tried to put as much conviction into the words as he could in his disheveled state, squeezing the other’s shoulder lightly. Finally, the frown left his best friends face morphing into fondness.

“Ah, there’s the smile I’ve been looking for.” Keith grinned at Shiro who mirrored the smaller man still dressed in the ripped red dress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that‘s the end (which I‘m really bad at writing).  
> I hope you liked it :D
> 
> Thank you all for reading and the Kudos and comments ❤️

**Author's Note:**

> I looove kudos and comments. So if you feel like it, feel free to tell me what you think :)


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